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Things are never what they seem in the art of Sadegh Tirafkan, the new feminist journalism of Asieh Amini, and the romance Shi'a-style by new fiction talent Alireza Mahmoodi- Iranmehr. Other contributors include Newsha Tavakolian, named Best Young Photographer of 2006 by National Geographic, Abbas Kowsari, Javad Montazeri and Omid Salehi, who have continued to document the social transformation of their country in the face of mass closures of newspapers and magazines by the government. Above all, Transit Tehran celebrates the country's long tradition of artistic and cultural resistance that has influenced young Iranians, noticeably in the work of veteran editor and journalist Masoud Behnoud, photojournalist Kaveh Golestan, premier satirist and illustrator Ardeshir Mohassess, and photographer Mohsen Rastani.>>>

STORY

Placing a rolled-up corner of pizza into his mouth allowed him to momentarily wash away his woes

by Pejman Khorrasani

22-Sep-2008 (one comment)

Ali met Bita when they were both at university in Tehran. It was the autumn of nineteen ninety-eight. They were arguing politics at a friend’s rooftop party, one exchange led to another and they left with each other’s phone numbers. They were married by the following spring. Ali’s father had agreed to let them stay in an apartment he owned, for six months. It was furnished but the bed was a bit creaky so they got a futon. Months later, after Ali’s arrest, Bita found herself sleeping on it alone, with only a pillow to hug. That first summer, Ali, along with Sam, the boy at whose dinner party they had met, had helped to organise a number of sit-ins in the student protests of June nineteen ninety-nine. The men who whipped them assured them they would never be able to sit again>>>

ERECT

We are the nation of forward lookers. Often we wish things happen before their time. We sell Sunday news paper on Saturday. We wish our colleagues and coworkers a nice weekend at the middle of the week. We sell next year’s models of automobiles few months before the end of this year and books that are released this year are copyrighted for next year. What if we sell wine before its time? Wouldn’t that be something else with poor quality and bitter taste? What if a child is born today and his birth date is moved a few months ahead. Does that make him younger or that is plainly weird? We may even invent a solution for imaginary problems that have not materialized yet. No no I am not talking about war with Iraq and preemptive strike and WMD tale, I am talking about erectile dysfunction, ED>>>

FOOD

“Two slices of limp bread with a bland filling, doth not a sandwich make”. Aristotle? Not quite. I hold my hand up to this statement. In a world where time is if the essence and gourmet meals are fast becoming ‘De Rigueur’…I ask you, is the humble sandwich still able to cut the mustard in the cut-throat world of delis and ready-to-eat Gastrodomes? My friends, alas I fear for its extinction. Long gone are the days of a simple sandwich with two slices of normal white bread, a humble yet fresh filling, simply sliced in half and eaten quietly in the tranquil confines of our own homes. These days a sandwich isn’t a sandwich anymore!
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IDEAS

Socrates’ thinking and his life was characterized by doing philosophy and pursuing knowledge. For Socrates this meant questioning those who claimed to know something. This in turn generated a lot of enmity towards him and he was put on trial, convicted and sentenced to death for refusing to stop criticizing and discrediting those who had power and influence in Athens. I encourage anyone who does not know Socrates, his story and his ideas to at least read Plato’s Apology which is the account of his defense against the false charges which were brought against him and his justification for pursuing philosophy and living the kind of the life that he did>>>

LIFE

There used to be a time when exercise, hard work and especially running were parts of normal daily functions. Being late meant you had to run, and muscles were there to lift. A full day was followed by a full night’s sleep when the only concern would be waking up in time for another busy day. Now, as I go about the heroic tasks of my life, such as walking down the block, housework or taking a shower, with each move I feel like a champion. The recollections of a time when I single-handedly dug a flowerbed, moved furniture and carried my not-too-skinny babies up the stairs is fast turning into a legend. Was it really me who invited a crowd of more than fifty to dinner? Where was the Vietnamese nail salon to remind me that God had created these hands for manicure and not for pealing eggplants? >>>

TORTURE

there is something else strange going on. We all know there’s a consensus among leaders and the media to not talk about certain things: labor movements, anti-war and anti-nuclear power demonstrations, the privatization of natural resources and local utilities, and resistance thereunto. Bosses everywhere are for privatization and against popular movements, and media everywhere either belong to the bosses or operate at their sufferance, so it’s not surprising they don’t cover these subjects. Media don’t cover what the bosses want kept quiet. This is so well known that to learn what the ruling class fears and suppresses, you only have to learn what isn’t broadcast. Would you have guessed that the media don’t talk about torture? >>>